It’s time to move on to a new sobering reality: The Jaguars might have to switch gears and let a Blaine Gabbert-led offense carry the defense for a little while.

Who could have imagined that kind of turnabout? Mel Tucker’s defense figured to do most of the heavy lifting in the early part of the 2012 season, allowing Gabbert and this retooled offense to grow with each other.

Well, it appears the second-year quarterback might have to speed up that time line because the Jaguars’ roster is shrinking. Surprisingly, the defense is the one that appears more in need of a bailout.

If scoring 23 points (Jaguars won 54 of 66 games putting up that many points in the last decade) and still losing to the Vikings in overtime is any indication, this franchise has a razor-thin margin for error. The Jaguars are in no position to have many things go wrong and still win.

Not having outside linebacker Daryl Smith (groin) or cornerback Derek Cox (hamstring) available to start a season, and possibly again for Sunday’s home game against the Houston Texans, shouldn’t be a killer. But it’s a significant void.

Smith, pegged by linebacker Paul Posluszny as “our best defender,” and Cox were major cogs in the Jaguars’ defense ascending to No. 6 in the NFL in 2011. Not having them in the lineup means the burden falls on not just replacements Kyle Bosworth and William Middleton, but the rest of the team to soften the blow.

“That’s unusual in this league, for the opening day,” Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said. “You like to have everybody healthy and see where you stand as a team.”

After just one week, the Jaguars stand as a banged-up team. To their credit, they patched up an injury-infested offensive line enough to deliver better production against Minnesota (355 yards) than in any game last season.

A vastly improved Gabbert eased the defense’s burden by keeping the Vikings offense off the field for 37 minutes in regulation. Doing it against Minnesota is one thing. Sustaining that production against the stingier Texans, who have a knack for forcing turnovers, will be a tougher challenge.

The Jaguars’ defense hasn’t been truly healthy since midway through last season. In addition to Smith and Cox being absent, there’s so little pass-rush depth that Tucker had tackles occasionally lining up at end against Minnesota.

All this defensive shuffling puts more pressure on everybody to lighten the load. The Jaguars had nobody to rescue them last season once the attrition for Tucker’s unit came at them in waves.

The best hope now is that Gabbert and a more dependable offense can navigate the Jaguars through this storm. We’ll soon find out if it’s too much to ask.

Gene, the bigger story is the jags offense will have to start carrying their load to win. But as usual more excuses for the jags and their fans. Trader's look at the vikings game was classic, he just realized he bought a lemon and now stuck with it. Classic.

@BleedingTeal----Hope you are correct about the defense
@Razz-----Hope you are not correct about our offense. The time to show you are a playoff caliber team is in November and December. It would be nice to just win games anyway you can until then. Starting this Sunday would go along way in getting there.